"If Ryūen guesses our leader's identity, we'll first lose 50 Base Points. Our class currently has 270 Base Points remaining. This is both good and bad. While we could convert these points meaningfully into Class Points, having so many unused points makes us vulnerable — if our leader is identified by other classes, we'll lose even more."
"For instance, if Ryūen discovers our class leader's identity and shares it with Class B or Class D. While Class D's response is uncertain, Class B would certainly try to guess our leader. This means we wouldn't just lose 50 points once — we could lose 50 or even 100 more. Our Base Point advantage becomes our weakness."
"Worse still, if our leader's identity is exposed, we'd lose our planned 100+ Reward Points. In this island exam, Class A wouldn't just fail to gain anything — we'd be forced to pay Class D 800,000 Private Points monthly. Meanwhile, Class B, who hasn't touched their Base Points, could gain nearly 400 Points at once—"
As he spoke, Houtarou noticed the changing expressions on Arisu's faction members' faces. Yahiko, standing beside Kōhei, showed the same concern. A wave of tension spread through all of Class A's students.
The threat was clear: they could lose their advantage and let Class B close the gap significantly. A terrifying prospect.
Their only defense was protecting their class leader's identity.
Observing Kōhei and Masayoshi's reactions, Houtarou felt satisfied.
Though Arisu seemed disengaged from class matters lately, even allowing him to direct her faction, he couldn't trust her faction members not to sabotage Kōhei independently.
They might, for example, reveal their class leader's identity to Kakeru if they encountered him.
Since Kōhei was now in charge and had chosen the leader, they could argue he should bear responsibility for any failures.
This would let them orchestrate Kōhei's downfall and allow the Arisu Faction to reclaim control.
So Houtarou emphasized Class A's vulnerability to deliberately discourage such schemes.
After all, why create internal conflict in an exam where they could gain points? It would only cause problems. Once the infighting began, both factions would enter an endless cycle of sabotage.
The very thought was exhausting.
Having given both factions this psychological guidance, Houtarou continued.
"Therefore, I believe our classmates can trust each other — we only need to guard against outsiders." Houtarou said, "Ryūen might position spies at our outposts or try to infiltrate our class."
"I see—" Kōhei and the others took careful notes.
After making them aware of these risks, Houtarou felt satisfied.
As long as their class avoided internal conflict and prevented spies from leaking the leader's identity, what could Kakeru really do? Send in more spies?
But this was Class A — they weren't Class D. Their students wouldn't carelessly bring in outsiders.
The outcome of this island exam seemed secured through this simple strategy.
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However, upon returning to Class A's camp, Houtarou discovered something unexpected: the students who had returned early from the beach roll call had brought back someone from Class C.
He noticed it first when he arrived at camp.
A female Class C student sat against a tree, looking pitiful — her hands stained with black mud, face swollen in one spot, clutching a small blue bundle.
"It's a Class C student." reported Masayoshi, who had accompanied him earlier and now quickly shared intelligence from the other students.
His eagerness to please was understandable.
After all, while Class C had forfeited, Kōhei hadn't realized Kakeru remained on the island until Houtarou's analysis revealed it — proving that Class C's leader was truly dangerous.
Compared to Kōhei, following Houtarou was clearly the wiser choice.
This explained Masayoshi's shift toward supporting the Arisu and Houtarou factions. Given Princess Sakayanagi's ambiguous attitude toward him, Masayoshi saw an opportunity to prove his worth.
So he hastened to demonstrate his intelligence-gathering abilities.
"We know Ryūen made a deal with Class B — Class C would provide funds for supplies. However, he planned to embezzle part of the compensation. While most students feared his violence too much to object, some resisted. They were beaten by Ryūen in public again. And this person is—"
Masayoshi paused, that word "again" carrying special weight.
So Kakeru had beaten her again. Yesterday evening on the ship's deck, a Class C student had stood up to his bullying and paid the price. Now that same student sat before them.
Houtarou studied the girl under the tree — short hair, petite build, face swollen, back slightly bent in pain. It was Mio Ibuki, the one from yesterday's incident.
At that time, he had received a system Task with two choices: Task Two was their current mission to turn Class D into an ATM, while Task One was to expose the discord in Kakeru's Class C.
In other words, Mio's beating had been mere theater — a performance now being put to use.
But...
"Who brought her back?" Houtarou turned to the tall girl with purple hair and stern face who had appeared at his side, wondering who would dare bring a spy into their camp.
"I did." Masumi said, "After seeing Ryūen beat her yesterday, I found her abandoned on the island today. I thought we could earn some goodwill and perhaps turn her into a double agent within Class C."
Ah. How clever you think you are...
Houtarou felt a subtle understanding of how difficult it would be to teach this young puppy.
While Masumi meant well for the class, this wasn't the right moment. Still, as her master and she also would be Arisu's future driver, he needed to handle this carefully.
"Get ready." Houtarou said, "Gather some of the sugarcane and corn we harvested from the other outposts today."
"Where are we going?" Masumi asked, confused.
"To Class B's camp, to see Ichinose." Houtarou replied, "She seemed quite concerned when she saw Ibuki get beaten yesterday. This is our chance to send her over."
"Oh." Masumi nodded.
So they would send Mio to Honami now.
But wouldn't this waste their chance to use the girl as a breakthrough — to plant their own spy in Class C?
She couldn't understand.
"You disagree?" Houtarou noticed her hesitation, "Do you realize your mistake?"
"..."
Damn. Did he have to use that master's tone?
Reflecting on his master-like tone and her mistake, Masumi went to gather the sugarcane. She called Hayato Kitō, another member of the Arisu Faction, to help collect the corn.
Soon, two figures appeared before Houtarou — one carrying a sack, the other with two sugarcane stalks balanced on their shoulder.
"Well then—" He approached Mio, "Ibuki-san, right? I know you're in pain now, but it will get better soon."
"..."
Mio, the Class C student, remained silent and continued leaning against the tree.
Before leaving her, Kakeru had given clear instructions: infiltrate Class A, discover their leader's identity, and pay special attention to Houtarou — a cunning, evil, and extremely vigilant person.
Her injuries were genuine, so surely they couldn't suspect her intentions, right?
Just as this thought crossed her mind, she heard Houtarou's sympathetic words.
"It's late now, and it wouldn't be safe to leave you alone out here. We've decided to take you to Ichinose in Class B. She was quite concerned when she saw you hurt yesterday. I'm sure she wouldn't want you sleeping rough outside. She'll certainly take you in."
"??" Mio looked up in bewilderment.
Wait. How had things gone so wrong?
⍟⍟⍟
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